Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • Page 38

I THE JURY THAT FOUND 110 WARD STREET GANGSTERS NOT GUILTY WHEN AUSTIN STRONG NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH IN ART STUDIO JAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 15. worked any wonders whatever. The lawmaking mill has not been speeded or eased up in the least. French naturalist is not for the purpose of making comparisons he would not like that but reading of his studies and observations the style of Fabri is certainly suggested.

It is with great pleasure and interest that I read his weekly It was hardly to be believed that the public horror and indignation manifest over the Howard street atrocities would subside in a month and a half as com-pletcly as they appear-to have donej Three of those arrested in connection Extracts From a Private Letter "I had an interesting stay of ten days' duration warning of the consequences." The act was declared unconstitutional. But another Sunday law was passed in 1861, the constitutionality of which Terry's successor, Judge Stephen J. Field, sustained. It became a dead letter, however, and when it had" bee'ff on the statute books twenty-two i years the then Governor, Stoneman, in an annual message, recommended its repeal, and the ensuing Legislature acted on his recommendation. But the Sunday laws of old were very different from that which San Francisco supervisors propose to enacf.

The one passed in affected "every store, shop in, house of every description devoted to business purposes, excepting taverns and eating houses." This one is for the purpose of closing up some barber shops whose proprietors want to work when sonie others do not want to in both London and Paris. London is getting into her old-time swing. The theaters are crowded. I was there during Armistice Day, and it was a night to see the whole busy city stop stock still for two minutes during midday, with all heads bared. The way the usual city noises gradually faded awav until a dead silence reigned for two minutes and then liegan again.

JParis-js also getting 'back rapidly. The streets are brightly work, and some grocery stores whose, proprietors- dissimilar. Both had been secretaries to governors. After the Budd regime E. D.

McCabe was successively State Librarian and Building and Loan Commissioner. Latterly he had been practicing law. One-who was associated with him through the Budd administration bears testimony to his fine temperament, his wonderful ability to smooth down the irritations that not infrequently resulted from the impetuosity of the Governor: He was never known to speak ill of another, and always assumed that the worst that others said might be explained or Austin Strong's Narrow Escape It may interest readers of the-artielc on Charles Warren Stoddard and the Artist Colony, written by Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez, sister of Mrs. Robert Louis Stephenson, and which appeared in the Sunday Tribune two weeks ago, to learn that Austin Strong, son of Joseph D. Strong, successful playwright and author of "Three Wise Fools," soon to be presented in Oakland after a run of three years in New York and two in England, first saw the light at 728 Montgomery street, San Francisco, where the famous studio described in the article was located.

-Born as he was in an atmosphere of art and literature, it is not surprising that tje younger Strong should have developed similar It was at 728 Montgomery, too, that his life came near being cut short almost at its beginning by Jules Taver-nier. Left alone for an hour one day with the baby, Jules, in the kindness of his heart, gave him some pastels to play with. Of course the child ate them, with, results that may be imagined. Prompt meisures saved his life. It is to the fortunate lighted again, and there are little- or no- re In fact, the divided session has been unpopular with everyone concerned.

And so anpfher attempt is to be made to have sessions continuous. Like some other things are easy to incur it seems to be difficult to get rid of. It is a pro vision of the State constitution, and will require an eipressjon of the people at the polls to It is to be noted that many of the provisions that jwere to fetch the millenium nearer are wearying the lawmakers, the voters and the officials selected to transact the public business. There was a time when anything that was new had a virtue simply befcuuse it was different. It has been demonstrated in this matter and some others that a way of public doing is not necessarily better just because it is different.

School Department Disturbed If slang were edifying in discussing school affairs it could be said that the school department is well shot to pieces. If got in that condition through the somewhat sensational proceedings over Principal Addicott. It was by the' vote of Miss Tower of the Board of Education that he was reinstated; yet the Public School Defense Association, which interested itself most actively in securing his reinstatement, did everything in its to prevent Miss Tower's reappointment. Its efforts were in jain, for the mayor has not only reappointed her, but has written a very complimentary letter apprising her of the fact, which found its way into print at once, as a sort of defi, to her opponents. It is not seen that under the therewith were convicted very promptly; but when the fourth was acquitted on the second ballot, and the jury in the fifth" ca.se failed to agree after six ballots the cases not being materially different so far as the public could see with no manifestation of general public disapproval, it must be taken as evidence that the sensation has palled.

The acquittal of Brady with promptness almost equal to the conviction of Murphy, surprised the defendant and the attorneys if it did not visibly stir the public. Rut it is acknowledged by those versed in the law that his case was weaker than the preceding ones. The failure to agree as to MacDonald, with the jury starting off with nine for conviction and at sixth ballot standing ten for acquittal, must be accepted as exemplifying that saying that you never can tell what a jury will do. The result is forecast as greatly ameliorating the situation for the gangsters. Those who have been convicted have given notice that they will appeal.

Thifc may have been but a formal action, to be followed up or not as events turned out; now the appeals want to keep open while some competitors want to close up. The religious feature is entirely except that the Seventh Day Adventists are on record as opposed to the measure. The Mexican Excursion The excursion of Californians to Mexico, with the idea of promoting better relations, is a wise move. It has not been of the highest credit to our discernment that there is almost' no topproch-ment between the two ieoples. The Mexicm war, seventy-five years ago, set the jieople of that country against the people.

of this, and a. result has been that other countries far removed hive profited by commercial, intercourse much move than the United States. And we did little or nothing to improve the relations if the interposition, that resulted in the defeat of the French attempt to establish a monarchy there may lie excepted and they did not seem to regard that as a par. ticularly friendly act. The greaj war so recently ended has awakened the people of this country to some sense of tljcir opportunities.

This excursion is a manifestation of that fact; If the inter-. course that results dot's something to ispel he strictions. -I had a daylight ride from Paris to Cologne. From the car window I saw the shot-to pieces towns and villages of northern France. What impressed me the most were the hewn down orchards, the trees lying prone upon the ground.

War I could understand; but the wanton destruction of fruit orchards was too much for me. I stayed over night in Cologne, and had a daylight ride from Cologne to Berlin through the Dusseldorf and Essen districts. Every chimney was smoking, and not an Idle person in sight. Berlin is. of course, exceedingly interesting, but most depressing.

There is something in the eyes, the unhealthy pallor and the threadbare iipjK'arauce of the poorer classes which can but stir compassion for these innocent victims of a fcreat military machine from which they could Hut wriggle themselves free. The Germans are going through hell all right. Germany's most malignant foe covjld not exact for a people a worse punishment than that which they are now undergoing. I verily believe that 00 per cent of the population would emigrate if they could obtain passports and steamsviip aceoi.miodat ion, neither of ending of this near-tragic episode that California circumstances the board can be a very homogeneous or effective body. The Addicott imbroglio has subsided as far as outward appearances go, owes the appearance of this star in the galaxy of her writers Austin Strong.

I and Superintendent Honcovieri is as mild as milk McCarthy to Boss the Game but there must be bitterness between the Indeed, this is so well recognized that a clean sweep was demanded by those who are try Not a great while ago many marvelled that national baseball could stand such an impost as ing to get affairs in the department on aTIiTfcrcnt which is niniTai'jttnV. The-ba likersr-busifless-r ayear orvh atrmight tief efmecT STgar basis. However, they have now settled down to', head by which is not meant a mere ornamental wait till the reorganization voted for at the last election takes effect, which will be in the autumn totem, but a supreme head whose decisions are law in the controversies that arise during the season's play. It must have been concluded that of 1022. it pays to have a man in that position noted for his uprightness and decisive qualities, vhile it must also be noted that the at the present time, has to be reassured.

Such a man was found in Judge Kcnesaw Mountain Land's for probably will be perfected, and not impossibly new trials will All of which will result in" relaxing the public attitude toward the various forms of vice that, were being attacked, and incidentally it is not impossible that it will have effect on such matters as the recall of the police Recall of Police Judges The opinion' is not unanimous that the movement to recall Police Judges Oppenheim and 'Sullivan will go sweeping through to victory. fCven some who are very decidedly of the opinionjthat it ought to succeed in a way to leave no doubt of the city's determination to. bring about a inore satisfactory condition are. a little troubled (over Uif prospect. The two candidates pitted against the incumbents come well vouched for, but the great majority of voters never heard of them, and will have to rely on the general showing.

It is not as though men had been put up whose record are familiar. One method of meeting the onslaught. by the incumbents is to charge that the recall move is a device to further the open shop. In the days when industrial strife was keen, those who found themselves under arrest for violence were treated with great leniency b.y both the judges whom it is now sought to recall. There was a time when a reminder of this would have been worth votes.

Whether it will at this recall election remains to be seen. One fact may have escaped notice. While a recall election ini-pends a bond election cannot le held; so that this recall election will have to lie out of the way lie-fore the election takes place as a preliminary for the purchase of Spring Valley. The Distracted Legislature It is somewhat feared that the Legislature will men and higher 'classes are thehlackest kind of pessimists. And the poorer classes have a right to lie cquallyieHsiuiisth for they have not had a full stomach in many a day.

The rich are getting everything they need; but they, are the very small minority. AV'e Americans, with dollars to sjend, are riding pretty high. A beautiful room in the most luxurious hotel in Europe, 'the Adlon, c.jsts (in marks a day. A fine meal, with splendid wine, costs as much. As we arc getting' 75 marks for a dollar, you can see that are doing very well from that point of view.

Noye of us, however, gloats over this, because we cannot forget the millions who are barely able to keep body, and soul together. We call a square meal at (JO marks cheap. But high class bookkeepers, office managers and editorial writers are paid 150) marks a month, and laboring men, typists and stenographers are paid fll to 1000 marks month. How they get by is a mystery to everybody." idea that the Mexican is regarded as an inferior; that he is simply tolerated whenever it becomes necessary or advisable for Americans to come in 'contact ith some headway will Ik: made toward establishing more amicable relations. The Latin is pretermit rally sensitive, and has transmitted this trait to his American descendants in a somewhat magnified degree.

This fact we have not taken due account of in our treatment of them. We will have to take account of it before we get on a desirable footing with them. 1 The Davis Agricultural School The proposal to make the Davis agricultural department of the State university a scpnrate'insti-tution is serious and not impossible of realization. There is undoubted dissatisfaction with some of the affairs and manifestations of California's great educational institution. A part of this may lie due to sectional feeling, the expanding South assuming that the North is getting more thau its share; but there is a sense that results are not commensurate' with growth and support.

Bond Elections The tendency to tighten up in financial affairs is general. The spending orgy is over. The tightening process may not be so manifest in those! public expenditures that can be. managed by the municipal authorities without recourse to the 'plebiscite," for they always spend all the money they have and can raise, regardless of all protests; but when taxpayers have a chance to vote on financial propositions there is a very noticeable inclination to slow down. uThis is figured on in the proposed bond Tfcrtron regarding the purchase of Spring Valley.

One phase of the election for this purpose ill be an amendment of the charter raising the limit of taxation. It is now per cent of the assessed valuation, which limit, has about been reached. The proposition to purchase the United Kailrciads is coincident. Together they will requite seventy millions of dollars in the financing. There is division jn the labor organi the national organization.

The Pacific Coast League realized a similar need. The difference is one of degree. It has had such experience that a firm hand is-necessary to control its clubs, and the disclosures of the past season demonstrated the necessity of reassuring the fans. The league conld not jiay $50,000, but that it is to pay indicates the" same necessity that exists in the East. That the position is not a bed of irises is indicated by the fact that the Pacific Const League had such difficulty in inducing W.

J. McCarthy to accept the presidency. He has affairs of his own to look after and evidently did not consider ten thousand a year tempting ill zations over these projects. The Building Trades Council favors the purchase of both, the railroads D'Annunzio's Conquests The most recent despatch concerning d'Aunun-zio'was not about his filibustering efforts which I ne attracted the attention of the world, more or less, for more than a year. It was not about the conquest of Fiume, which he took possession of with a toy pistol, as it were, but which was re-takeu by the Italian navy.

The despatch referred to his conquest of the fair sex, specializing on his suing for a divorce that he might foregather, with an "aviatrice," and mentioning several others to whom he has paid his devoirs with apparent success, notably Eleanora Duse, the and the water works. The Labor Council favors only the purchase of the water at least at this time. It remains to be seeu whether the taxpayers will indorse; with their ballots the purchase of either. It looks less favorable for such approval than it did but a few weeks ago. San Francisco's Sunday Law The defeat of Amendment 12 indicated this, and this proposal as to Davis is another sign.

The advocates of the proposition to make the agricultural department a separate institution have an argument in the fact that a department is not likely to meet, the requirements as completely as though effort was uuhatniered and unrestricted by affiliation. The Davis farm has achieved creditably to a certain extent, but. those whose interests are exclusively in the farming and stockrais-ing way claim that there is no natural affiliation between such avocations as tilling the soil and dentistry, for instance. That is the homely way it was put to me, but it. illustrated the point of view of those who favor a separation.

A Naturalist in Our Midst The many who have acquaintance with Frank A. Leach know that he is many-sided, but did not tragedienne. Which reminds me of a letter which I recently read, written by Alice Nelhsbn our Alice, of winsome light o'iera It was inspired by announcements of the return of Duse unless it came right. Now he has been prevailed upon to accept the office. It is believed that he has made some stipulations, and that one of them is that there shall be no more scrapping between magnates, such as has characterized some of the deliberations of the not distant past.

McCarthy, is a keen sportsman and knows the baseball game thoroughly, and if he cannot keep the game free ruction and suspicion it will be conclude that baseball has fallen intja. a. bad rut. Oakland Pioneers I have received an interesting communication from Fred L. Button of Oakland.

It concerns the society of Oakland Pioneers, of which he is the president. Informing particulars regarding this organization are set 'forth in a circular? That the general knowledge regarding it is not universal may be due to the fact that it was organized as recently as a year ago. But it evidently has an apjieal, for there is given a list of members. I recognize many familiar names in this list those of former George C. Pardee, Sheriff Darner, Signiund Beel, the violinist; Henry Blote of theCirou'cfc (there are three Blotesi; Fred A.

Campbell, Ed H. Hamilton, dean of newspaper men; Charles G. Beed, Judge E. C. Bobinson, to mention a very few.

Anybody who has lived" in Oakland fifty years is eligible for membership, the costs of which arc not onerous one dollar admission fee and two dollars annual dues, and that thi? dues may not become burdensome they are made payable quarterly. Thelserions object of the snrbtv otai to the stage. When she fell for d'Annunzio she left the footlights. When she was disillusioned as to the ioet she liecame misanthropic, gloomy, and 'disinclined to mingle with the world. It seems that Miss Neilson and Duse struck up a friendship, and we are left to infer that through the urging of the fair American the Italian queen of the stage was induced to return to her realm.

The writer doesn't call names or make a drab srorr of the relations of Duse and d'Annunzio, but she manages to convey a fair idea that d'Annun The rather Tuntastic Sunday law that has been passed to prjnt by the Board of Supervisors is not the first experience of-that kind in California. This proposition is the enactment of a municipal board, applying therefore only to one city. The Legislature has twice enacted Sunday-closing laws, and of a much more general character than this one proposed for San Francisco. As far back as l.S."S"thc State's law-making body passed a measure making it unlawful to keep places of business open on the Sabbath day. It was declared unconstitutional as soon as it could lie got before the Supreme Court of the State.

David S. Terry was' the Chief The case that was' carried up involved a clothing merchant named Newman, of Sacramento. He was arrested, tried before a justice-of the jieace and convicted, lie went to jail on refusing to put up $70 bail. A writ or habeas corpus was issued from the Supreme Court, and on a heaVing he was released. The Cbjcf Justice read from the State constitution then in force this sectinn "The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination, shall forever be allowed in this State." He amplified it-with this observation: our liberties were acquired I know till recent publications in Tub Tmbunk that he is a keen naturalist.

Those whose acquaintance goes far enough back knew that he was ti very competent mechanic; an inventor; a printer of more than casual craft; a farmer; a politician of the older school and a legislator who left his impress on the laws of the State; those of a later date were made aware of the fact, that he was an editor of force and achievement; an authorial! important official as the superintendent of the San Francisco Mint and then the director all the mints; that he is the author of a very be so engrossed in reapportionments and affairs with" i. riecticnal bias that other very needful matters wui not receive due attention. The reap-jiortionnient of the Klate for legislative representation ha. made headway, the Hoggs bill having been favorably received. At first there was opposition to it from the San Francisco delegation; but when an understanding that Ios An gclea comity is not the same as Los Angeles city that the county embraces stretches of territory greatly! excess of the city, as rambling as it is, the opposition, was modified.

Under the Boggs bill Los Angeles city will have eleven assembly-men and San Francisco twelve. The southern city will have five senators and San Francisco six. The reapjiortionnicnt for Congress will not so easy. It is exMc(ed that both Los Angeles and San Francisco will gain one representative each; and at 'jast in he norlh the effort will be made to the lines so that Hie First ami Sec- ond districts will not be such Democratic cinches as they have been. redisricting and some other measures thai ill arouse sectional con siderations more or less, it is feared, will stand in the way of such matters as an unhasty cori sidcration of the election laws, the severe amendment, of the criminal statutes and the reconstruction or repeal of the indeterminate sentence provision.

If the legislative body' is not distracted ith political considerations jt is hoped that, such matters as the simplifying of court procedure will be taken up7a.o. But this is hoping a good deal. The Bifurcated Session Anthony Caminetti gets the credit for the bifurcated session of the Legislature. The idea appeared to be that after a breathing spell, during which members could digest the bills introduced in the first leg of the session, they could go to it with much greater zest, and make short work of it in the second. But the plan has not zio did not perform altogether as an ideal character in the matter.

It is even left to lie inferred that Du was not wholly disillusioned till his devious performance as the "liberator" nt Fiume. But the stage is to receive back its former idol. At the age of forty-five Duse is to return to the footlights, and content herself with the plaudits of the multitude, whom she turned her back readable book which throws sidelights on phases of California political history not elsewhere illuminated as completely; but they did not know that he is up in natural history to the extent that he can w-rite mosV interesting accounts of the doings of birds, ants, wasps, beetles 'and the insect folk that the ordinary person passes to lie to collect and preserve information relat upon for the fleeting glamour of fustain poet. Edward D. McCabe The casual notices of I ho death of Edward D.

McCabe state that he was the brother of Alexander McCabe, State Insurance Commissioner, but nowhere is it set forth that he has figured importantly in the political annals of the State of California. was the private secretary of Governor Budd, whose.term was 1804 98. As that was a Democratic administration, it follows that the brothers McCabe were of opposite political failhN, though otherwise their careers were not ing to early settlers and the history of the city of Oakland. Meetings are held in one of the jiolice court rooms in the city hall regularly oq the second Friday evening of each month. The annual meeting was held last Friday, the 14th.

It can be seen readily where such a society has a great field for usefulness in such a rapidly expanding community as Oakland, not to consider the social possibilities incident to renewin" acquaintances and recounting former events 'and experiences. THE KNAVE. our republican form of "government framed, we deemed that we had attained not only toleration but religious liberty in its largest sense a complete separation between church and Rtate. All religious despotism commences by combination and influence, and when that influence begins to operate upon the political institutions of jh country, the civil power Rood bends under it and the catastrophe of other nations furnishes an awful by or treads upon, With no interest or compunction. 'Of course this bent is not confined to entomology, but includes flora and fauna, ns we have seen.

Ho possesses much of that faculty displayed by the great French naturalist, Henri Fabre. in observing the habits of the small world creatures and writing of his observations. He does not pretend great scientific learning, and coupling his name here with that of the renowned fliMi ti i iii ikvh'ji! ii aiiilLiiTi? 3 UI I i il ti 1 1 MiiiiiiHii'W.